The Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers agreed to a blockbuster trade that sent Chris Paul to Houston and the NBA world into a frenzy. Los Angeles netted three role players and a first-round pick in next year's draft in return for Paul, who informed the Clippers last night that he would sign with the Rockets in free agency if he wasn't traded. Below, we have the exact details of the trade and a grade for both teams.
Rockets Get: Chris Paul
Clippers Get: Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, Sam Dekker, Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Wiltjer, DeAndre Liggins, Darrun Hilliard, 2018 first-round pick (top 3 protected)
Rockets Grade: A-
It was a surprise that Houston was even in the Chris Paul race, let alone being the ones to pull off a deal for him. They did give up valuable pieces - Beverley is a first-team All-Defense player, Williams was a Sixth Man of the Year candidate, Harrell is a good rebounder and Sam Dekker has a lot of promise as a versatile forward - but anytime you can add a player of Paul's caliber, you come out ahead in the transaction.
Now, projecting to the future. I'm not really sold on Paul's fit next to James Harden. The two are friends and really wanted to play together, which is why this deal got done, but both are ball-dominant players who become much more ineffective when playing off the ball. It may be a situation where they simply take turns on the offensive end, but both will have to work on their spot-up shooting and cutting to really make this work.
Clippers Grade: A-
Los Angeles actually did a really good job with a bad situation, and Chris Paul can take a lot of credit for that. Instead of simply leaving the Clippers, he told them what he wanted to do, allowing them to get something in return for him. I already touched on the value each player provides, but for a Clippers team that needed starters and depth at both shooting guard and small forward, they got a somewhat good return with those needs.
LA definitely took a step back with this trade - that was always going to be the case when you move on from a player like Paul - but did pretty much as good as they could do given the cards they were dealt.
Connect With Chat Sports:
Chat Sports Android App
Chat Sports iPhone App
Check out our NBA page for all the latest NBA Rumors or download the Chat Sports App!
Back to the NBA Newsfeed